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World's Wildest Houses

Pyramid House

Wadsworth, Illinois

Guess what contractor Jim Onan was into when he started building this 24-karat-gold-plated, 17,000-square-foot house in 1977? His interest in Egyptology spiked in the 1960s. Onan, who lived in the pyramid house with his family for a time, eventually added enormous statues to the pyramid’s lot (including a 50-foot likeness of King Tut) and lined his driveway with 80 stone sphinxes. The place was opened to paying visitors from 1978 to 1981, but it's now a private residence that sits behind closed iron gates and a moat.